Definition Provided by Equal Justice Initiative
Related Articles: Lynching in America: Outside the South and Lynching in America.
Between 1877 and 1950, there were 315 reported lynchings in the state of Florida.
Of the lynchings that have occurred in Pinellas County only two have been fully documented: John Evans, lynched on November 12, 1914; and Parker Watson, lynched on May 9, 1926.
On November 12, 1914 a crowd of 1500, including many of St. Petersburg’s prominent white families and leaders, gathering at Ninth Street South and Second Avenue to watch John Evans being lynched from a light pole. At first, he kept himself alive by wrapping his legs around the light pole. Then an unidentified white woman in a nearby automobile ended his struggle with a single bullet. Though the shot was fatal, the rest of the crowd began shooting at Evans’ dangling body until their ammunition was depleted.
Parker Watson was lynched on May 9, 1926 at the hands of a group of armed men wearing masks after being taken from three police officers on Sunday evening. The officers were taking him to Clearwater, the site of the county jail. His body was found along an isolated road Monday morning with five bullet holes in it and what appeared to be acid stains on his face. Unlike the lynching of John Evans in 1914 when public officials and “upstanding” citizens were members of the lynch mob, the Watson lynching brought outcries from a number of people including St. Petersburg ministers, and the county commission, during a special session, condemned the lynching in a resolution and offered a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the guilty parties.
The horrific murder of John Evans, Parker Watson and thousands of African Americans inflicted deep traumatic and psychological wounds on survivors, witnesses, family members, and the entire Black community.
Racial terror was meant to enforce a system of white supremacy that reverberates today.
Racial terror lynching profoundly impacted race relations in this country and shaped the geographic, political, social, and economic conditions of Blacks in Pinellas County that are still evident today. The administration of criminal justice in this country is tangled with the history of lynching in profound and important ways that continue to contaminate the integrity and fairness of the justice system.
The St. Petersburg Community Remembrance Project is a grassroots coalition of organizations and individuals. Inspired by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), the CRP is working to install a historical marker bearing witness to the horrors of lynchings at a significant site in our community.
By Gwendolyn Reese via The Weekly Challenger
John Evans was lynched at Ninth Street (now Dr. Martin Luther King Street) and Second Avenue South on Tuesday, November 12, 1914, by a mob of 1,500 white men, women and children. In the book “St. Petersburg’s Historic African American Neighborhoods” by Rosalie Peck and Jon Wilson, the following is written regarding the lynching:
“Townspeople and nightriders from the countryside lynch John Evans, an African American suspected of murdering white photographer Ed Sherman. The murdered white man’s lawyer told his hometown of Camden, N.J., newspaper that city leaders met in secret to plan the lynching.”
Several books by local authors include no reference to the lynching.
Wikipedia states that 55-year-old Sherman was a photographer and real estate developer. He was murdered and his wife, Mary, was attacked. Her claim of being attacked by “Two negroes” led to the arrest of Evans. Two days after the murder, some of the city’s most prominent and well-respected members, including some public officials, decided to take matters into their own hands. These vigilantes stormed the jail and marched Evans to the site where he was hanged without being given a fair trial. He wrapped his legs around the light post in an effort to keep himself alive at which time an unidentified white woman shot and killed him. The shot was fatal, but it did not prevent others at the scene from riddling his body with bullets until they were depleted of ammunition.
Evans was one of 11 Black men working for Sherman. He was fired a few days before the attack. Mrs. Sherman was beaten with a pipe by a second man, Ebenezer Tobin, who was arrested and jailed in Clearwater. A year later, Tobin was put on trial for murder, convicted and executed in Oct. 1915. His execution was Pinellas County’s first legal hanging. Mrs. Sherman never said she was raped, but newspaper articles implied she was and played up the sexual theme possibly fueling the community’s outrage. The headlines in the St. Petersburg Daily Times and the St. Petersburg Evening Independent highly sensationalized the matter and neither paper denounced the lynching or offered an apology to the black community.
Evans is said to have come from Dunnellon only a few weeks before, and an editorial from the Ocala Star, the local paper for that area stated: “It was probably safe to lynch [Evans] on general principles whether he was guilty of the crime he was accused of or not.”
The violence did not end with the Nov. 14 lynching. Vigilantes continued to look for his accomplice, and anyone thought to be a sympathizer. There was talk of burning down the entire Black community and many Blacks fled.
An article in the Tampa Morning Tribune on Nov. 14, 1914, stated: “Every available outlet from this city was utilized by negroes [sic] in their frantic determination to get out of town. The steamer Favorite left the docks for Tampa with 173 negroes [sic], mostly women and children, aboard and the Tampa & Gulf Coast trains were carrying capacity loads when they left the depot. The various roads leading to the outlying country were studded from the first break of day until long after supper with Blacks staggering, under heavy bundles and disappearing in the distance. Tonight there is not a negro [sic] to be seen on the streets.”
In the effort to find Evans’ accomplice, the crowd roamed the Black community firing shots and raiding homes. Four men were arrested and taken to jail. They were kept there until Mrs. Sherman could have a look at them. The temper of the crowd was unmistakable. Earlier in the day, carloads of armed men drove to Clearwater for Tobin who was being held in the Clearwater jail. The men returned empty handed. Deputy Sheriffs are said to have “guarded every road into Clearwater after hearing rumors that several hundred people from St. Petersburg were on their way there planning to burn the jail and lynch all negro [sic] prisoners.”
There seemed to be no doubt in the minds of the white community that the right man had been lynched; however, both men insisted upon their innocence until their death. There was not a hint that any steps would be taken to identify or punish the members of the lynch mob. A local coroner’s jury determined that Evans died at the hands of “unknown” persons.
The events drew critical press from outside newspapers. In “Days of Fear: A Lynching in St Petersburg” by Jon Wilson, he wrote in 1983: “in its November 15 editorial, the Tampa Tribune observed: ‘St. Petersburg and its neighborhoods could have won a national reputation by permitting the law to take its course in this aggravated case—or at least by waiting until guilt could be accurately fixed before adopting the mob method.’”
The Clearwater Sun commented caustically, ‘Surely there must have been those in that city of ten thousand people, with its cultural refinement, and its law and its gospel, who could have prevented the frenzy of a small portion of its people from adding crime to crime.’”
A 3×5 inch aluminum plaque marking the scene of the lynching was found by city employees several years ago. The origin of the plaque is unknown. The St. Petersburg Museum of History has a photo of the 1914 lynching.
by Gwendolyn Reese via The Weekly Challenger
Parker Watson was lynched at the hands of a group of armed men wearing masks after being taken from three police officers on the evening of May 9, 1926. The officers were taking him to Clearwater, the site of the county jail. His body was found along an isolated road on Monday morning. He had been shot and some acid or chemical poured on his face. According to the article, “Historical Lynchings: The Disgraceful Evil,” Watson had committed nine robberies.
Unlike the lynching of John Evans in 1914 when public officials and “upstanding” citizens were members of the lynch mob and were said to have planned it the night before, the Watson lynching brought outcries from a number of people including St. Petersburg ministers. Herman Dann, president of the state chamber, asked Governor John Martin to conduct a thorough investigation saying, “the fair name of the state was at stake and that the blot must be wiped out.” The sheriff vowed to conduct a thorough investigation of his officers and the St. Petersburg Police Department to determine if either agency had been involved. During a special session, the county commission condemned the lynching in a resolution and offered a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the guilty parties. An article in the Ft. Myers Press reported that St. Petersburg Mayor C. M. Blanc asked the governor for aid in the investigation. This article also alleged that Watson was being “held on a charge of attacking white women to steal their purses.”
It was reported in the May 15, 1926, edition of the St. Petersburg Times that Judge Freeman P. Lane was dissatisfied with the report submitted by a grand jury to the circuit court after investigating the Watson lynching. The judge ordered the grand jury held over to continue the probe into the lynching based on the uncovering of clues regarding the perpetrators. The judge reminded the grand jury of the negative impact lynchings would have, especially with the tourist industry. The article includes an allegation made by H. B. Smith, chief of detectives with the St. Petersburg police force. He later retracted the allegation saying that “he was only joking.” The allegation was concerning the origin of a white scar on the face of Watson believed to be the result of torture using carbolic acid.
Smith claimed the scar was caused by the Negro undertakers while removing facial hairs using a chemical preparation. The undertakers, however, were adamant in asserting, “The white scar was on the face before the body was taken from the spot where he was found.”
The Orlando Sentinel stated: “Rarely has this city been so stirred as it has over the death of the negro [sic], whose body was found with five bullet holes in it, and what appeared to be acid stains on his face.” The Sentinel article also stated that “there is a theory that some persons, believing the negro [sic] to know the location of a large amount of stolen goods, took him and applied acid to his face in order to get him to reveal the hiding place, and when this failed, killed him.”
The article went on to say that there was no explanation why he was handcuffed when taken from the officers but there were no handcuffs on him when he was found. He was said to have a silver dollar clutched tightly in one hand when found and there were several coins scattered around him.
The perpetrators were never identified or prosecuted.